Singing and posture–see Categories, About, Launch 4-2013

http://themodernvocalist.punbb-hosting.com/viewtopic.php?id=4133

>>>So when I’m doing classical repertoire or even something else, and I have a low note to sing, particularly in performances, my heart will start racing and adrenaline kicks in. This can sometimes help high singing, but down low it can screw me up really badly. I was wondering if anyone else deals with this? I think it’s only a matter of overcoming, changing or regulating my body’s natural response to performing. I don’t know if there is any exercise to fix this besides performing more. Does anyone have any advice at all?

VocalPosture.com:

Complex set of body reactions. Performing involves audience interactions, and the body naturally reacts with adrenaline, for you are energizing the audience and they are energizing you. Fear of performance also can cause adrenaline. Fear of failure of performance can cause, of course, heart pounding, etc.

There are numerous approaches to dealing with these.

John Wooden (Athletic Coach of the Century awards) advocates practice, practice, practice, and more practice, at very high intensity. And then still higher intensity. Coupled practice with his Pyramid of Character Development.  If you are highly, highly disciplined, this will likely work.

Bhagavad Gita, ancient Greek literatures, and even John Wooden stress “Know Thyself”. This also means accepting oneself. When one knows and then accepts oneself, one is less subject to the opinions of the audience. Of course, not necessarily easy. But, worthy of the effort, because Know Thyself affects all parts of life, and these life experiences also enhance your singing.

Religious teachings of all kinds help build character–which also means being independent of the crowd’s opinions.

Meditation, yoga, Alexander Technique, and VocalPosture.com (my ideas) advocate straightening of the spine. When the spine is straight, the body’s suppressed emotions are “detensed”, and the result is less activation of suppressed emotion to audience opinions.  Your fears are not necessarily at the performance of the note.   The fears are suppressed and triggered by the performing note.  Straightening the spine and simultaneously enables one to sing more emotionally expressively while in control, without vocal and body tensions.

http://themodernvocalist.punbb-hosting.com/viewtopic.php?id=3893

“Jussi is considered to have perfect technique, however, on almost every phrase, I see him violating one of the basic rules of technique — he’s taking a high breath. On every single phrase, his chest and shoulders rise. He doesn’t appear to be taking a low breath at all.”

Lots of people have shoulder tension, and lots of people don’t use much of diaphragm when singing; it does not follow from these that the shoulders should not be uplifted.

Shoulders, chest, and diaphragm should be full expanded for maximum air intake.   Analogous to running– max intake when all these are fully intaking air.  Shoulders lift, my estimate, is anywhere from 5 to 15% more air.

If the shoulders are uplifted vertically, this is usually suggestive of tension.   If shoulders are expanded laterally, and then uplifted, this suggests filling with air, and is correct.

Additionally, I disagree with the view that there’s a “correct” shoulder movement or position.   Effective singing is usually a sublimated emotion, and a raised shoulder is frequently or usually a part of fear emotion.

So, the natural position for shoulder should be–  1. When possible full expansion   2. As part of the emotion being expressed.

The question is asked, what is support, and the above was given as a link.  http://themodernvocalist.punbb-hosting.com/viewtopic.php?id=3630 .   And Felipe gave an answer as http://themodernvocalist.punbb-hosting.com/viewtopic.php?pid=33758#p33758

I’ve had the same question for years.   “Support” usually suggests structural or relationship support, and in singing, it changed into “air flow mechanism.”    This is confusing.   The proper terminology, as best as I can determine, should be “air flow mechanism” or “air flow mechanism as predominantly supported by the expulsion of air through the diaphragm.”   In either case, I suggest the terminology is confusing, as support, in these cases, should comply more with standard dictionary meaning.

I suggest the following:

There’s “structural support”– this is truly “support”, as by the dictionary.   This is how feet support the leg supports the pelvis supports the spine supports the ribs supports the throat supports the head.

There’s that confusing “singer’s support ” which is quite nebulous, because instead of describing a thing (e.g diaphragm), it describes a complex process.

There’s that second “singer’s support”, which describes an implied proper process.

“Singer’s support”, I believe, is more detailed than the simple “singing air flow mechanism caused by the diaphragm” usually discussed.  One has to ask “WHAT is causing the mechanism to flow?”, and if the answer is “the Correct cause is the diaphragm”, the following question is, “WHAT Supports the diaphragm?”.

In another word, there’s a structural support for the diaphragm and the vocal tract, and it supports the “Singer’s support”.  And this “structural support” complies moreso with the dictionary meaning, than a esoteric meaning of “support”.

Is this all simply semantics?   I believe not.   Those in singing typically indicate that the singer should control the diaphragm to power the voice.  VocalPosture believes the control mechanisms for the diaphragm and the remaining vocal tract is NOT entirely volitional control, and from a teaching perspective, the singer is likely unaware of the entire degree of freedom that the entire vocal tract has, such that even the diaphragm’s freedom and entire power are not volitional.

Before the diaphragm (and other singer’s support means) can power volitionally, it (these) has to be SUPPORTED properly– by the skeletal system, the guts and its muscles, the pelvis and lower back in particular, and myofascia.   When looked at this way, the term “support” makes sense and can vastly improve singing.

http://themodernvocalist.punbb-hosting.com/viewtopic.php?id=3278

“I feel like I use too much air too quickly, and it takes me a while to warm up to a point where I’m not running out of breath on phrases all the time.

Any good practice routines I could try?”

Running out of air is frequently due to exertion– that is, one is making more effort to sing louder, more sustained, better sounding, more range.   To preserve air, relax more throughout the entire vocal apparatus.   When the muscles of the vocal tract are relaxed, they can resonate far better, and this automatically increases the volume.   Also, greater relaxation enables for greater range.

http://themodernvocalist.punbb-hosting.com/viewtopic.php?id=3105

Question on earplugs

Consider also Musicians earplugs. Regular earplugs affect frequencies heard, even though covering one ear shouldn’t affect as much, because the mind compensates.

Both Musicians and regular earplugs cause an occulsion (sp?) effect, which will make you think you’re bassier. You’ll need custom made earplugs for singers (about $200 and a skillful audiologist).

One unusual way of solving this, is to adjust for the DJ, by possibly pulling out custom made earplugs, if he doesn’t play so that you can hear your voice.

Lastly, hearing your voice is a trained skill. If you practice a bit, you’ll hear your voice despite the loud music.

Well, here’s my two contrarian cents worth on talking and singing, from an amateur.

Imagine returning to prehistoric times, well before sophisticated languages with consonants and vowels, where all kinds of apelike sounds were being made by man, and suddenly a human starts to sing melodies.   Must have been quite enchanting.   Soon, I’m sure there were lots of singers.   Yes, singing before rhyming, singing before sophisticated words, singing before full lyrics development, singing before Western sets of sounds, singing before Eastern sets of sounds, singing before prehistoric civilization’s sets of sounds.  You get the idea.   Just like prehistoric art found in caves were drawn before anyone knew how to manufacture a canvas for art, so singing was sung before a single song was written.   Before any set languages were established between tribes.   Lullabies were sung likely before words were formalized.

So, we can see how singing is more ancient than, and likely more fundamental than speaking.   That is, speaking is a limited form of singing.  If one can sing properly, one’s speech is a restrictive form.

The question, in my opinion, is not how is it speech and singing are different; the question should be, how is it speech resulted from singing, to the extent that natural singing is lost.   And the next question is, how is it possible to recover this natural singing?

How we learn speech, and not how we lost singing, is more researched, so let’s start there.  We know a baby has more sounds than the modern language he speaks has, and we know that over time, he loses many of these sounds.   He practices talking and learns to express his thoughts, his desires, his feelings, his fears through talking, and as he gets older, he finesses more of these, and loses more innate sounds.   He stores body tensions, and then sublimates certain sounds and lose others.  Over time, he loses his singing voice and acquires a different set of skills for his talking voice.   Yes, he with society placed limits on his innate sounds and became worse and worse as a singer.

So, no singing and talking arise from the same skills with talking a more restrictive form with a great deal of finesse built up.   Singing is lost due to societal pressures, tension, and lack of practice.

Can they be the same?  Yes, because talking can utilize the resonance, timing, rhyming skills that singing teaches.

Is there evidence on the above?   I know of anecdotal ones:   Elvis, Judy Garland, and Pavarotti.  Judy came from a family of vaudeville entertainers and was performing as a child.   Pavarotti was a singing instructor’s son who earned money as a child from singing.   Elvis, if I recall correctly, was praised for his early childhood singing.   It’s not because they had the best hereditary voice– it’s because they did not lose their innate voice.   Tiger Woods was not the best athletically gifted golfer, but he had parents who provided him an environment, such that he did not lose his innate golf-suited skills.

Having said all this mumbo jumbo–what does this have to do with speaking and singing, giving the evidence of the above study.  

1. Unless a singer has half a brain, the study makes no difference.   And as we see from above, one’s potential is far greater than one’s current skill set, and the objective is to restore one’s innate skills.

Well, to offer my contrarian, amateur views.  Maybe a better question is how is it you lost your accurate pitch, instead of how to learn accurate pitch.

Pitch matching is, for most people, a natural, innate skill.    One can see this particularly well in certain Asian countries’ women’s very high pitch talking voices.   This is a learned pitch matching from their childhood– they heard other women talk this way, society reinforced it, and they innately learn to attain this high pitch.

That you are unable to match pitch is more likely that you lost your innate ability.   How did this happen?   I believe that this occurs most often by the mind psychologically fooling one’s own listening, when your vocal sounds travel from the mouth to the ears, also travelling through the facial bones.  

Though pitch matching with a known sound is one way, I don’t think it’s a good singing way.  

Japanese Zen art has the concept of irregularities.   So, whereas in Western art, symetry is highly prized, in Zen art, there is the irregularity.   Developing perfect symmetry in reality is not only difficult, but boring as well.   So, Japanese Zen art shows irregularities and prizes these, as these are reality-based.   In pop music, it is the irregularity that is high prized, not the symmetry.

This means, to learn singing, the focus should be on harmonious pitches, utilizing one’s irregularities.   The idea isn’t to attain perfect symmetry in singing.   To attain the harmonious, using one’s irregularities, one still has to hear one’s voice accurately.   This means to relearn one’s innate vocal hearing, rather than to practice with a known pitch.

So, the first step is to hear accurately, and the first process is to align one’s posture accurately to hear accurately.    www.vocalposture.com

http://www.themodernvocalist.com/profiles/blogs/more-on-mixed-voice-aka-twang

Just an amateur, what the hell do I know?

 A mixed voice, to me, suggests resonating with both the nasal-sinus cavity and simultaneously the airway from above diaphragm.   Tom Jones and Julie Andrews have very good mixed voices.  How does Tom Jones resonante bass while singing these screaming highs?   Somehow he uses both resonanting cavities simultaneously?

 The soft pallet is only one of the factors affecting resonance– others being placement, blockage, muscle tone, mental thought, more, and, in my opinion, most important is body posture, including head-chest alignment.  Basically, what one is trying to create is a relaxed vocal cord that resonantes in two fully open cavities simultaneously.

 So, my amateur opinion is the soft pallet change will help.

A lot is said about types of food.   There is a good show about Australian dumpster scavengers– these are “white” folks with money who believe that eating toss-aways from dumpsters is ecologically sensible.    It’s unclear that they have more acid reflux than normal population.   One wonders at this, until the show points out that “in the state of nature”, humans are scavengers– eating mostly leftover kill by other animals–unwashed, eaten by others, diseased, possibly maggots– and in the natural state, these individuals may be OK.

Human digestive system is built for scavenging, and probably can tolerate modern food as well as scavenged food.   Yes, modern food with all its hidden fats, synthetics, hormones, etc., aren’t too good for you, but fats can be eliminated, hormones reduced, etc.    If you can tolerate it, eat inexpensive beans– organic, washed free of pesticides, lots of bulk, etc..

But be aware, eating beans produces a lot of gas– which bloats one’s stomach, increases pressure, and can contributes to acid reflux.    What I’m trying to say, is that the synthetics in modern diet might be able to kill you on cancer, but it’s unclear how it affects acid reflux.

http://www.themodernvocalist.com/profiles/blogs/acid-reflux-and-singers?id=2472635%3ABlogPost%3A652144&page=3#comments

If you have acid reflux, the first thing to do is to stop its continuing damage and let the body heal; if not, the damage will become cancerous, and stomach cancer has a kill rate, if I recall correctly, about 90%.  The pain is your body telling you of its high danger.

After stopping its continuing damage, the body will heal by itself.   Proton inhibitors are effective at this, and proton inhibitors are relatively safe.    The standard course for proton inhibitors is two to four weeks.

After the continuing damage is stopped, then work on how to reduce the acid through non-pharmaceutical means.   A low fat diet means that food stays in the stomach for a shorter period of time, producing less acid.   An inclined bed means that the acid doesn’t crawl up the esophagus when the body is horizontal.   But none of these are assurred to be a cure, so you may have to return to proton inhibitors. 

The reason acid reflux affects singing, is not primarily because of the stomach pain, but because the acid, mostly liquid and some acidic fumes, constantly weaken the esophageal muscles, and such muscles are critical to resonance.    Also, such acids can affect the vocal cords– when this happens, you won’t have vocal tone control.

Most gastro literature state that the lower esophageal sphincter causes the acid to spill.  The esophagus can tolerate a lower pH than the nasal-pharynx, so the other sphincter mentioned means that acid is spilling and is not damaging your esophagus nearly as much as the nasal-pharynx.

If you’re singing with a high acid stomach (condition of stomach or lots of food), and your technique is unusual, one can send more acidic fumes up to the nasal pharynx, which would cause loss of resonance control.  This can be offset by drinking antacid before singing.

Remember that loss of muscle tone usually doesn’t occur immediately and healing occurs slowly.   So, try proton inhibitors coupled with inclined bed, then the fat-restricted diet, then the spice restricted, then the quantity-restricted.   Give each one about 4 weeks to work, and see what happens.

My approach is that the lower sphincter lost its elasticity due to continous poor posture– slouching, bad sitting (and even good sitting), computer work.   If you can get your posture upright (difficult process), then the lower sphincter is automatically pulled away from the stomach, by a distance, I estimate, as long as one to two inches.   This keeps the acid in the stomach, and reduces many of the other mentioned acid-reflux issues.